During a BBL, how can a fat embolism be prevented?

Fat embolism will always be a risk when conducting a BBL. That being said, they are very rare. Fat injection can happen two different ways; injection into the gluteus muscle and injection into the existing buttocks fat. The gluteus muscle is what contains the blood vessels your plastic surgeon will want to stay away from, and there are several techniques he will use to do so. First his grafting instrument should be tipped with a blunt end, with the hole releasing the tissue on the bottom end of the tip - the blunt edge allows the tool to move blood vessels out of the way instead of puncturing them. Secondly all tissue deposits are done superficially; which means the tissue is injected on top of the layers already there, instead of deeper inside the fat and muscle layers. Lastly, the surgeon should employ a retracting motion with his tool while injecting the tissue - keeping him clear of any blood vessels even further. I suggest finding a board certified plastic surgeon that has plentiful experience in BBL's. Consult with him or her and I'm confident you will feel at ease. They are rare. SAFETY and more SAFETY is every surgeons top concern. Best wishes. 

Injecting above the muscle is likely safer and has less risk for this particular complication.Kenneth Hughes, MDBeverly Hills, CA.......

There was an article that came out last summer in the white journal (main journal for plastic surgery). The article discussed fat embolism with BBL and how it is more common in South America (Columbia and Brazil- ~7%) than it is here in the US. The consensus was that when you are aggressive with high volume fat injection and inject into all layers of the gluteus muscle along with the fat, there is an increased risk of a fat embolism. This happens when the deep layer of the muscle is injected because this is where the blood vessels are. Because of this article, it is less common here is the US to inject into the deep layer of the muscle. This means that less fat volume is injected and therefore the results are not as dramatic as they used to be.